Star Wars: Heroes of Another Kind

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 10: And Then There Were Three...

“Yes, its locked,” Akan growled over his shoulder, “If it wasn’t, it’d be open and we wouldn’t still be standing here!”

They had left the large hangar and followed a long corridor to a sealed door. Well sealed. Shadow said they were going the right direction, saying she could smell the two officers who had gotten away. Akan, not in the mood to start another argument, simply took her word on it and put his attention to the door. It had been five minutes of attempting to open the door the conventional way before he cursed and got his lightsaber out.

As he cut through the door, Akan noticed that Shadow was looking at him as if he were some idiotic fool. He glared at her for a moment and went back to ‘opening’ the door. After cutting a box shaped hole, he kicked it in and saw that the next room actually looked to be more than a junk pile. There were active computer consoles all along the walls and a few chairs scattered around a small holoscreen on the opposite wall. However, the room was empty.

Lightsaber still in hand and activated, Akan carefully stepped into the room. Of course, Shadow had already slipped through before him. He was starting to get used to that by now, and she had started moving towards one of the other two doors. Looking to a console, Akan raised an eyebrow and waived for Shadow to hold on. He examined then deactivated his lightsaber and grabbed a spare datapad that was off on the side. Sliding it into the console, he copied all of the files onto the datapad. Logs mostly, but some of it was about whatever the facility was working on.

Satisfied now, he pocketed the datapad and walked over to Shadow, who was waiting with her arms folded across her chest. Her tail stopped swishing across the ground and then, without a word, she turned to he door. Akan was behind her this time, and when she opened the door he was glad for it. It slid open and Shadow was left face to face with the white helmet of a stormtrooper. Both of them stood still in a moment of shock, but Shadow reacted first. Her vibroblade still out, she thrust it up into the trooper’s side, where the armor didn’t cover, and then punched him hard so he fell onto his back. Behind him in the small were two other troopers who were scrambling for their weapons. The first had no luck, as Shadow pounced him and her vibroblade did its work silently. The second managed to get his drawn before Akan put a blaster bolt into his helmet. He collapsed against the wall and knocked a small desk over in the process.

Akan then stepped into the room properly, seeing that off to the far end were three barred doors. He nodded to Shadow, who got the idea and stepped over to them. As he caught up, he managed to notice that the stormtrooper Shadow had pounced had long claw marks across his chest plate...could she have? At this point, Akan wasn’t about to throw the concept out the window. Attention back on the moment, he walked straight over to the door that Shadow was flanking. Instead of doing the same, he just kicked it hard, bending the metal inwards and proving that it was on some kind of hinges. The second time he kicked it, the door went down, and Akan found himself looking at a small storage room with boxes of food and rations. But why station three troopers to guard rations? They weren’t anywhere near that good tasting...

“Hello?!” ah, that answered that. At least one of the storage closets was being used as a makeshift cell mostly likely. Akan then walked over to where he’d heard the voice...female, human most likely. The third door down. He then opened it to a punch in the chest.

Shadow started diving forward, assuming a threat, but Akan’s arm was extended to hold her back. He had been right. It was a woman...a woman with a strong right arm from the feel of it. She had shoulder length blonde hair and two bright blue eyes. She wore a simple brown tunic with green piping and the New Republic insignia on the shoulders. One of the scientists. Noticing he wasn’t in any Imperial uniform, she smiled apologetically, “Sorry about that.”

Akan managed to return the smile, holding his chest slightly, “Oh, don’t worry about it...I get that all the time. You’re one of the scientists?”

She nodded, looking over his shoulder to Shadow, who was tilting her head around and looking even more feline than usual with the way her neck bent. The scientist’s attention then turned back to Akan, and she extended a hand, “Um...yes, yes. Jen Zaarin.”

“Akan Tavos,” he said shaking her hand, he then nodded over his shoulder, “This is Shadow. We were here to find out what happened to you scientists...”

Zaarin smiled again and seemed to lose a large amount of tension, “You’re with the New Republic, then?”

A short flash of something passed across Akan’s face. He’d never been asked that before and somehow it...hurt. As quickly as it had come, it was gone, and he said distantly, “When they pay enough. Look, we’re not here to slaughter Imperials...are there any other scientists left in here?”

“Not that I know of,” Jen said, having caught his expression but ignoring it for the moment, “The rest of them got out on our shuttle or fled into the forest.”

“Then we can leave now,” Akan said, turning the other direction and starting to leave without another word. Shadow waited for Zaarin to move onward, and fell into step behind the woman. Forget the other officers, they now had an Imperial officer(or would have) and one of the scientists. That was enough to find out what happened and get the money. No more need for killing. When they reached the large room again, Akan picked up the still unconscious officer and started on their way out, Shadow leading the way just in case.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 11: Cramped Starfighters

“We’re about to head up,” Akan called into the comm as they looked outside, noting that the Y-Wing was untouched and the area around it looked empty enough.

Ansion’s voice replied over the comm, “Division Two and Four are already heading to the Claw. One’s about to lift off and we’re nearly to our ship. They’re up there getting ready for hyperspace as soon as we’re all in. At least an Star Destroyer’s worth of ground troops here. They’re looking for something and we’re just in the way.”

Akan took another careful look across the tree line beyond the Y-Wing, then behind him to Zaarin. She was watching Shadow, who knelt on the other side of the entrance and looked like a predator just ready to pounce. Zaarin caught Akan’s eye and he just shrugged, then tapped the comm again, “We’ve got one of their officers. Hopefully can figure out what they’re so crazy about. Then get paid...” he trailed off a moment, glancing to Jen and lowering his voice, “This is more than I bargained for, anyway.”

“Agreed,” Ansion responded a few moments later, “Get back to the ship and we’ll figure things out from there.”

The comm clicked on the other end, and Akan turned to the others, “Looks clear to me. Probably should get out of here before any more Imperials arrive.”

Shadow simply nodded and picked up the officer, who she’d been handed and had done much better carrying him anyway. It seemed like no matter what, she was better than Akan was. As a Jedi, he knew this was stupid and everyone had their own strengths...but something about it still bothered him. Shaking off the feeling he turned back to Zaarin, who nodded as he got up and followed suit.

Blaster ready, Akan carefully moved to the Y-Wing. Nothing shot at him...good. Heading to the underside of the cockpit, he flipped a switch that opened up the very small cargo compartment. Being part of the cockpit, it had minimal life support systems for some reason. Convenient for moments like this. Shadow was behind him, and stuffed the body of the officer into the compartment before it was closed. Not only would he wake up with a horrible migraine, but his neck was going to ache too.

Climbing up onto the nose of the ship, he opened the canopy and looked back to Shadow and Zaarin. Someone was going to be riding this a friend...Akan began to voice this, but Shadow...changed. It was as disturbing as before, but somehow he almost expected it. Now, on the ground in front of the Y-Wing where she had stood, there was a small creature that looked much like she had been before. Feline...much like a Corellian sand panther, but with a mane along its back to the tail. Except this time she was smaller. Almost the right size to rest on his shoulder.

Zaarin stared in amazement and Akan managed a shrug, “Pick her up and hand her to me. Looks like you ride in the back with...” he waved his hand vaguely to what he was pretty sure was Shadow. Before Jen had the chance to actually pick the feline up, Shadow bent back and hopped up onto the Y-Wing with one leap. Impressive.

She then padded over and hopped into the gunner’s seat, waiting with a very impatient look on her ‘face’. Akan shrugged to Zaarin, and knelt down a little, extending his arm down to help her up. She took his hand and he managed to get her up onto the nose. Quietly, he said, “Look, I don’t know either. Lets just get out of here first, hm?”

Slowly, Jen nodded and climbed into the rear-facing gunner’s seat with Shadow sitting in her lap. Akan started to turn to get into the pilot’s chair but something...a quick flash shot through his mind. A second later he heard the sound of a blaster firing....far off, only one shot. With the warning from the Force, he was already moving to his left, rolling off to the side and nearly off the Y-Wing. But no...somehow the Force was wrong. He dove...into the shot, which caught him hard in the right shoulder. The pain pinned him to the metal plate next to the canopy, and as he could smell the charred flesh from the shot only one thought ran through his mind. How could that have hit him? It wasn’t aimed at him...but where he dodged to. That didn’t make sense...

But this wasn’t the time to lay still. Someone was out there that was most likely the best shot in the galaxy. And the canopy was open..leaving Zaarin and Shadow in the open. Akan’s mind forced his eyes to open and as he turned his head, he saw a red flash that coincided with the sound of the blaster shot again. Off in the trees...just to the east of the installation. This time when he rolled to the front of the nose, with the canopy behind him and providing at least minimal cover, the blaster shot hit the Y-Wing where he had been lying. Great. Not waiting for another shot, he got to his knees and climbed over the fixed part of the canopy into the pilot’s chair, “The second the power’s up fire the ion cannons into the trees back behind us!” he growled painfully, “It’ll at least scare him off!”

Zaarin was currently in the process of holding Shadow down, who was madly trying to get out and most likely go kill the shooter. No time for that, at least Zaarin understood. The first thing he did as the Y-Wing warmed up was to close the canopy. It would only provide protection for one or two shots, but it was more than nothing. More shots started ringing out at them. No longer just single...and Akan glanced to the tree line to see stormtroopers coming out of nearly everywhere. Ansion wasn’t kidding about there being a Star Destroyer’s worth on the planet...

With the Y-Wing warmed up, he immediately cut on the repulsorlifts and started getting them airborne. The ion cannon wasn’t firing...why?

“I said shoot, dammit!” Akan growled through gritted teeth as he tried to ignore the pain in his right arm. That was no easy task, of course.

Zaarin’s voice sounded panicked when she cried back to him, “I don’t know how! I don’t fly! I’m a scientist!”

“Typical!” he then cursed to himself and fired the main cannons at the trees as they got over them. Two came toppling down, but Akan didn’t give time to see the effects of the shots beyond that. They were still being shot at, and though the Y-Wing had strong armor when compared to personal weapons, lucky shots were still to be worried about. Looking across the blue sky of the planet, Akan caught sight of two Imperial Sentinel-class Landing Shuttles. One was still on the ground, but the other was just pulling out of the trees about ten or so kilometers out. At the same time, up in orbit, he could see the underbelly of a Star Destroyer. Great.

“Claw, we’re just on our way up,” he called into the comm channel that was disturbingly silent, “Can you hold on for just a few more minutes?”

There was a long pause before he heard the voice of one of the members of the Claw’s bridge crew, “Div Three just got in and we’re trying to outrun that Star Destroyer. Get up here before they get to us or meet us at these coords.”

A line of hyperspace coordinates were transmitted to him, and he kept them on the screen despite not planning on using them. Cutting the sublight engines on, the Y-Wing was sent shooting off into the atmosphere. Sensors showed that the Sentinel shuttle was following. With its weapons compliment, if it got in range they were most likely going to end up as more wreckage for the orbit of Endor. Then something started beeping.

“What’s that?!” Zaarin called out, trying to look around to see.

Akan cut off the alarm and watched the blue fade into the blackness of space. Not very far to the starboard side of the Y-Wing was the Star Destroyer...closing fast. Off to the port side, there was a small silhouette that could only be the Claw pulling away from the planet. But those weren’t the reason for the alarms, “TIEs on their way. Interceptors. Fast...we can’t outrun them,” he activated the comm, “Claw, get out of here. We’ll meet you at the destination.”

“Affirmative,” replied the same voice as before, “Good luck.”

“You, too,” Akan cut off the comm and put the engines to full. Just had to get out of the planet’s gravity well and then make a quick jump before going to the actual coordinates, “Zaarin, can you plot a hyperspace course to some system close?”

“Um...yes,” she sounded a bit unsure, but the ‘yes’ was nice.

“Do it fast, and tell me the second its done,” he was speaking in short, quick tones that were in no way friendly. This wasn’t the time to think about anything but hopeful survival. At least he’d never had to ask for an interesting life. Instead, he sometimes just wanted a day where nothing at all happened. The Force at least owed him that much.

Apparently, the Force didn’t agree. Another beeping sound started and Akan cursed as he tried to bring the fighter into enough turns so that whoever was currently trying to lock on(most likely the Sentinel which was still back behind him) would at least have some trouble. Y-Wings were not meant for speed, maneuvering, or anything really beyond bombing, assault, and support. Slow and bulky...and old.

Suddenly the cockpit was going crazy with alarms. Missile fired...behind them. The sentinel. Jen let out a yelp(as she could most likely see it coming towards them), and Akan started pulling the Y-Wing into maneuvers it was never meant to handle. It growled an argument but managed the corkscrew dive anyway, the concussion missile followed suit as best it could, but when Akan cut the thrusts off completely and pulled up just a few degrees, he held his breath. Not a second later, he watched the red missile shoot past, only a few meters from impacting the craft.

Letting out a sigh of relief, he put the engines back to full and diverted as much of the weapon’s power to the engines to get even more out of them. He gave one quick glance over his shoulder to Zaarin, “How’s it coming?!”

“...its ready!” She said almost too loudly. Good. The Interceptors were just reaching firing range, and the alarms were going crazy as multiple ships began firing on them. Not taking prisoners, obviously.

“Hold on and pray!” Akan called out, angling the ship in the correct direction and pulled the hyperspace levers. The lines of the stars pulled back slowly, so slowly that Akan was sure that they’d get hit just as they were leaving. But then, they shot forward and a tunnel of blue surrounded the cockpit of the ship. Allowing himself another sigh, Akan slumped back into the seat and said quietly, “You had better be worth all this trouble, Zaarin.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 12: Glimpse of the Past

It was a two minute jump to the middle of no where. Nothing followed them, and so they were soon off on their way to meet up with the Claw. It would be an hour and a half stuck in the confines of the cockpit. Shadow had fallen asleep in Jen’s lap, and Akan had all but forgotten about the officer stuck in the cargo hold. He had closed his eyes and just rested for what seemed like most of the flight, but he heard Jen say...something. Eyes opened again with a sigh, he glanced at the chrono on the HUD. Still forty minutes left...

“What did you say?” Akan asked over his shoulder in a strangely quiet voice. With the only noise being the hum of the hyperdrive, it was louder than even he’d expected.

He heard Jen shifting slightly, “You’re a Jedi?”

Ah...small talk. At least it would pass time, “I try.”

“Then you...fought against the Empire?” she was referring to the Galactic Civil War, no doubt.

Memories slipped back through his protected mind...short flashes of flying his X-Wing. Mission briefings...infiltrating an Imperial base...somehow, they didn’t hurt like he’d worried. But perhaps that was because of the absence of the most painful ones. Slowly, he nodded, “A lifetime ago.”

There was a long pause as she seemed to think about what else to say. After a moment, he noticed another sound...quiet, but constant. Purring. He tried to look over his shoulder but couldn’t see. Zaarin caught onto what he was doing, “Do you know what she is?”

Akan shrugged, then remembered she couldn’t see that, “No. I just met her a few minutes before heading down to the planet.”

“Oh...” Jen looked out at the tunnel of hyperspace that was cascading away from her, “You said you were sent to find out what happened?”

“Don’t...not now,” Akan closed his eyes again, “Save it for Ansion. He knows the details...I just do the covert work. Not too well, obviously.”

She laughed slightly at that, and somehow that surprised him. He hadn’t meant that as a joke. Her tone changed to that of curiosity, “You talk like you’re an old man, you know that?”

Again, he shrugged. This time, though, he grinned at the natural reaction. He glanced up and out of the canopy through the fringe of his dark brown hair and opened his eyes, “Sometimes people grow up too soon.”

He’d just said that. He didn’t even understand it, or realize the truth of it. It just...came out. Jen had raised an eyebrow at that, her hand that was scratching at the feline’s ear stopped for just a moment, which got a quiet ‘rowr’ out of the sleeping creature, “How’s the wound?”

“It will heal,” Akan looked back down and to the deep black mark on his right shoulder. He could move the arm, but it hurt far too much to be worth it. The shot had hit hard, but something was still wrong. It should have killed him where it hit. Not just burned and scarred.

Another long silence grew out of his thoughts. The purring noise had started up again, and Akan couldn’t help but grin very slightly at that. Shadow was a strange creature...silent and business minded from what he could figure, but then when she was like that. So much like a child. Ansion had been right...despite how much better at everything she seemed to be, Shadow’s skills complimented Akan’s very well. Suddenly he heard a noise...clicking. Something opened.

There was a small compartment in the back section that used to hold personal belongings...”Who’s this?” Jen’s voice asked. That compartment was empty last he remembered. Maybe someone else put something in there. It was technically his Y-Wing, but the others used it from time to time.

“Who’s what?” Akan asked, looking over his shoulder to see what she was talking about.

Jen had moved some but he still couldn’t get around to see it, and she hadn’t handed it to him, “The girl in this holo. The other actually looks like you...younger though.”

“What are you...” he trailed off as he managed to catch a glimpse of the small holo in her hand. At once he knew it, and he felt a deep pain returning. Something that had stayed hidden for so long that it had only gotten worse, never being given a chance to heal. Tears welled up in his eyes but Akan fought them back. It was himself...Raan...and Mare. Both wore their flight suits and it looked like they were about to leave. There was a distracted smile on his face, and Mare had almost the same look. Three years ago...

His mouth opened to say something, but no words came out, only a croaked noise. He took in a deep breath and tried again, barely managing the words, “A friend...”

Not any kind of fool, Jen noticed the reaction the holo had caused. She quickly put it down, and asked in a careful voice, “What’s wrong?”

Memories slowly came back. Part of it was ironic to him...the void within him returned within the void of hyperspace. He closed his eyes and rested his face in one and, “She...I...she died.”

There was a long silence, and he heard Jen shift again, hearing her voice closer to the seat now, “I’m sorry...”

“Don’t apologize,” Akan’s voice was strangely harsh, not at all comforting coming from one who was supposed to be a Jedi.

“How...long ago?” Jen asked, seemingly choosing her words carefully. Part of him wondered if she was just prying, but Akan was smart enough to know she was trying to help. Why...he didn’t know. But somehow it felt good to at least speak of it.

He reached a hand back over his shoulder, open and waiting for her to hand the holo to him, “Three years.”

Jen placed the holo in his hand and he pulled it back to look at it. He was so young then...a lifetime ago was right. That boy in the holo was no longer alive. He’d been replaced by someone who ran the risk of destroying himself even more. A Jedi with such deep pain was dangerous. To himself more than anything. Jen’s voice interrupted his thoughts, “I didn’t know they allowed people so young to be pilots...”

“They were desperate,” Akan said, not able to fight back the grin that the statement had always gotten to his face, “And we...I was good enough that age didn’t matter.”

“There are other things in here...” Jen’s voice was accompanied by her rummaging. Somehow, this didn’t bother Akan. It should...she was going through his memories as it were. Painful memories, at that...ones that he had gone through great lengths to forget. Maybe time had healed them more than he’d thought...no. No. Nothing could heal it.

“The...the datapad is her diary,” Akan said very quietly, a hand reaching up to touch the holo gently, “The other is a holo from her home. After...,” something in him couldn’t let him say the words that he knew were true. So instead, he just continued on anyway, “After, I held onto her things. It was all she had...and they would have just gotten rid of it.”

He reached back over again, handing Jen the holo of the two young pilots. She took the holo, but her hand held his for a long moment. It was...strange. Gently, she squeezed his hand, “I lost all of my family and friends on Alderaan. I know how you feel.”

A sudden emotion, so close to rage it was almost tangible welled up within Akan. He jerked his hand away and looked to the chrono. It had reached zero. They were there. He reached for the hyperdrive switch, and pulled them back. They reverted back to realspace, and there sat the Claw, in he middle of the blackness of no where.

“You have no idea,” Akan said low and dangerously, “The only way you could know how I feel is if you fired that blast that destroyed the planet.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 13: Similar Histories

Akan didn’t speak anymore after that, and upon arriving on the Claw, he’d quickly left without even a word to Ansion. The Verpine greeted Jen with what was most likely his species’ equivalent of a smile, motioning towards the turbolift on the other end of the hangar, “If you wouldn’t mind coming this way...I wasn’t planning on any kind of debriefing, but I didn’t plan on being shot at. I assume you don’t mind me asking questions?”

Jen smiled and started towards the turbolift. It felt good to be out of the cramped cockpit of that Y-Wing, “Of course not.”

She gave one last glance back to Shadow, who was now in her humanoid form and pulling the unconscious Imperial Officer out of the cargo hold. Jen noticed that Shadow seemed to take a strange delight in the thud sound that the Officer made when he slammed into the deck below. Then, for a short moment, she looked off towards the far end towards the turbolift that Akan had left towards. Part of her wanted to talk with him more...but the way he sounded was enough to show it wasn’t a good idea.

Her attention soon turned back towards the moment at hand, and did her best to run through some old tension relief techniques she’d learned while younger. Before she knew it, Ansion had led her into the large meeting room of the ship, and it was strange how empty it looked with only two people in it.

The Verpine motioned to a chair and then to a set of drinks on the table, “Have a seat and a drink. Its not the best stuff in the galaxy, but we get a hold of what we can.”

“Thank you,” Jen nodded and took a glass, tasting the liquid carefully. It was strong...very strong. Probably some kind of Corellian Ale. Of course, the other scientists back at the facility kept things much more dangerous than that, so it didn’t phase her much.

Ansion had a seat across from her at the table and stretched just slightly, his long slender limbs moving awkwardly with the motion, “First, I’ll tell you why we appeared at such an out of the way planet as Endor. The New Republic contacted me a few standard days ago. They said that one of their small, but important science facilities had essentially disappeared. Comms didn’t only not reply, but nothing could be sent in to be recieved. Transmitters on devices shut down...etc etc. Apparently, the High Command was worried that the research you were doing would fall into Imperial hands. They didn’t say it directly, but I’ve worked with people long enough to learn to tell things like that. It took prying and lowering of my price, but I managed to get the information on what it was you were doing down there...” he paused a moment to give her a long look, “Now what I want to know from you is fairly simple. You may not even know it. But how is it that the Empire found out about your genetic work?”

Jen wasn’t very surprised that Ansion knew what they had been doing on the planet. He had said himself that he’d had to work to get it, and he was right about that. For the New Republic to give information to a mercenary, they must have trusted him. She then thought about his question, and shrugged, “I don’t know. The obvious answer is a spy...or someone in the facility itself. But I don’t know. My job isn’t to deal with things like that.”

“Well, we didn’t exactly expect our job to end up like it did,” Ansion said a bit cryptically, but he still had a generally positive tone, “We’re currently on our way to Coruscant. There we’ll drop you off and have a quick meeting with some of the higher ups...I think we’re entitled to some details on this one.”

Nodding, Jen smiled and said, “May I ask you a question...?”

“About Akan, I assume?” he was good. Of course, dealing with people as much as he did probably made that a necessity.

She nodded and sat back in the chair some, “You know about his...past yes?”

“I know a little,” the Verpine said, nodding slowly, “I found him when he was about eighteen. He’d been working with New Republic Spec Force on a joint operation with us. It was an search and destroy mission inside an Imperial base out on Duros. It was a disaster. We freed an Imperial prisoner who ended up being an Officer during the Civil War who’d been put there by some power hungry Moff after the Emperor was killed. The Officer thanked us by killing three of us...Akan tried to deal with him, but had as little luck as the rest of us. Somehow we got away...but that boy was never the same. He didn’t even remember his name after that...” Ansion shrugged, “I felt bad about it, and took him in. I managed to learn a lot from him in small bits. Things he claimed were dreams...too detailed, however. I’ve been looking for a way to help him out for a long while...it finally presented itself a couple of days ago.”

Jen thought on this, and then raised an eyebrow, “You’re talking about that...Shadow creature?”

“The New Republic Intelligence should get you on their side,” Ansion grinned as best a Verpine could, “Yes. She’s much like him. Except she found us. There’s something buried within her, too. Her old friend, a smuggler named Max. He used to work with us so I knew of her. After he died, I tracked her down and asked her to join up with us. She obviously had no where else to go, and joined up with us. Akan and Shadow...its strange, but they’ve got very similar histories. I’m hoping they’ll work out their pasts so that they aren’t such a danger to everyone else.”

“But Shadow didn’t seem very...” Jen trailed off, thinking about it and realizing how dangerous the idea of being able to change one’s form could be. Slowly, she nodded and looked down at the table, “I’ll gladly help if I can. I owe you that much.”

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 14: Friendly Fight

Aboard the Claw, a large amount of the old quarters space had been converted into a single room. It was empty. The size of five large quarters, the room now served as a place for sparring. It happened little, but was a place that Akan found he could rest his mind and let things work themselves out. So now he sat near the center of the room, not focusing on anything but his shoulder.

That blaster had to have been set on a lower power for the first shot. It didn’t hurt anymore...but the placement should have killed him instantly. And the second shot had burned a deep mark in the Y-Wing, so either it was a second weapon or the power was toned down. Either way...it didn’t make sense. Whoever had fired the first shot was impossibly good, predicting movements long before they occurred. But that still didn’t explain why the shot was such a low power.

“Your sulk like this a lot?” a voice asked from behind him. He’d not heard the door open, so it surprised him slightly.

Akan glanced over his shoulder to see Shadow standing with her arms crossed over her chest. She was wearing that body suit again and her tail swished very slightly. He then started to get up, “Need something?”

Shadow’s footsteps were light, but he could hear her walking closer, “Need to work my muscles. Care to let out my frustration?”

“Your frustration?” Akan responded with a raised eyebrow, turning around and giving her a bored look, “But its been a while since I’ve gotten any practice.”

“Anything goes,” she said with a grin growing on her face as she stretched some. She caught onto a stray thought and her grin grew, “Anything means anything.”

For the first time in a very long time, a smile grew on Akan’s face. Interesting. Obviously, she trusted her own skills to keep her from getting killed, but at the same time she had to have trusted his. Or...or she was just so arrogant that it didn’t matter. Or both. He cracked his knuckles and gave her a look, planting his feet and standing in a fairly basic combat stance he’d learned in Spec Force(the fact that he could think of it that way was amazing, but he somehow didn’t grasp onto that much).

Shadow arched her back and stretched like a big cat, a few things popping as she did so, and then shook her head. There was a predatory look growing on her face that he’d seen before. Somehow he was starting to worry. Of course, he wasn’t given much chance to. Thankfully, he’d at least seen her fighting some, so he had a slight idea of what she was about to do.

Which was actually very simple. In every definition of the word, she pounced at him. What he hadn’t expected was to see claws. Akan stepped to the side and ducked a swipe at his face. Surely she wouldn’t actually hit him with claws like that...Again, she gave him no time to think. Once she had a stable footing, Shadow spun around with a punch to his stomach. He caught her arm, but her other hand got his, and she tossed him over her shoulder and to the ground.

Akan hit with a loud thud and a grunt...and a pop from his spine. She was strong, too. Wonderful. Before she had a chance to bring her knee down onto his chest, Akan managed to roll out of the way. He got himself up onto his feet in time to twist to the side, out of the way of Shadow’s claws far too close to his waist. She really wasn’t playing around. Or rather, she was...but played rough. He wasn’t even getting a chance to swing at her, just dodging, ducking, and getting out of the way as best he could. Thankfully, he was calm enough to use the Force to attempt at least a little sensing of her actions. It was the only way he was avoiding a majority of those strikes.

Then, when he ducked out of the way and started to the left, he got surprised. She must have anticipated what that, as he met with a knee to the face. Akan yelped as he was sent onto his back again. Trying to ignore the pain, he felt himself being caught up in adrenaline and the Force itself. Time seemed to slow down...Shadow was moving still, bringing a clawed hand down in a slash towards his shoulder. Not completely aware of what he was doing, he reacted.

In one swift movement, he rolled to the side and got the lightsaber off of his belt. As her claws got close, he brought the lightsaber upu and activated it mid swing. The snap-hiss of the blade sounded through the room just a second before a loud cry of pain from Shadow. Akan was still moving, getting to his feet and to a defensive stance before he actually saw what had happened. Shadow stood looking surprised, her right arm was missing the bottom third of it, which was cleanly cut on the ground. Strangely enough, she had a smile on her face. A toothy, dangerous one, but a smile none the less.

She slowly turned to him, and Akan watched as her arm literally regrew itself. In a matter of seconds, she was back to ‘normal’. Akan couldn’t help but be amazed at how...handy that talent was. But it had obviously still hurt, so it had its limits...they stood studying each other for a long time. Akan with his lightsaber still activated and glowing a bright blue-green in front of him. Shadow with a grin on her face and claws still out, she stood in a ready to pounce way. She was twitching slightly, ready to move.

Catching the still surprised look on his face, her grin grew, “I did say...anything goes.” That’s when she lunged at him again.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 15: The Past Influences the Future

Akan was still mostly on the defensive, using the lightsaber to ward Shadow back when she got too close. It had become an interesting game of feinting and trying to figure out what exactly the other would do. It was strange, but Akan found himself...enjoying it. Shadow would not hesitate to cut him open, but at the same time, she wasn’t too afraid of his lightsaber. She could reform her arm, but it had obviously caused a great deal of pain and effort. Which was probably the reason she was being so cautious.

With a quick move, Shadow started towards his left side. Akan brought his lightsaber over in front of him to keep her back. She was, however, anticipating this, and pushed off her foot to roll around and under his blade, bringing in a claw towards his stomach. He did his best to pull back and swing the lightsaber around to ward her off, but she was simply too fast. The claws dug deep into his right side and dragged across his side as she moved around behind him. The pain shot up through him, and he gritted his teeth as Akan he followed her move, pivoting around on one foot and slashing across with the saber.

Staying low, Shadow avoided the cut and then pulled back to a safer position. Akan took a step back also, trying to use the Force to calm himself and ignore the pain. He was not a healer, and gave a glance down to the four long marks that dug through the brown jacket he wore. There was red blood seeping out, and he decided it was best to not look to that anymore. When he looked back, Shadow was licking her claws clean, and seemingly enjoying it far too much. Steadying himself, Akan watched as she finished and then watched him with an even more dangerous eye, “Tastes good...”

Oh. Great. If she wasn’t worrying enough before, this just topped it. Not giving him a chance to respond, however, she dove at him again. She moved towards his right side again, and he managed to get the lightsaber up and in front of him in time, which caused Shadow to pull back. He wasn’t going to win this one...but why wasn’t he stopping? This worried him, as he rarely took such risks. But something about Shadow...and the air in general. It was intoxicating really. He may get hurt worse, but in the end he’d be fine...and this was well worth it.

As Akan was bringing his lightsaber back into a more neutral defensive position, Shadow came at him quickly. Surprised by this, he tried spinning the blade around to force her back again. This didn’t work, as she had moved in a way to get his wrists. Shadow pulled his arms up, then kicked him in the stomach. He grunted painfully and his grip loosened on the lightsaber. She twisted his wrists around and pulled his arms to the side, sending the lightsaber off to the ground a good distance away. Once it hit, it deactivated. Of course, Akan only knew this from the sound, as his attention was on Shadow. He managed to kick her in the side, but it did little good as she quickly returned it with a knee to his injured side.

Akan let out a painful yelp but managed to stay up. Too quickly for him to react, Shadow pulled his arms around and flung him face first into the wall. The thud was loud and probably not indicative as to how painful it actually was to hit the solid durasteel. But she only had one hand on his wrists now. Ignoring the pain as best he could(and it was getting much more difficult), Akan twisted one arm free and sent a fist into Shadow’s face. Though he didn’t hit too hard, it sent her back enough to give him a chance. With the small second that was granted to him, he dove across the room towards the lightsaber. He rolled over to it, picking it up and getting to his feet. There were a few red marks on the floor now from where his still bloodied side had hit.

He took no notice of this, and ignited the lightsaber again. Akan’s looked beat up, defeated, and generally terrible, but he held the lightsaber in an effort that made it look like he was fighting for his life. Maybe he was...something deep within him was growing. As he stood there, he could see things he’d only slowly started to allow back into his memory. A situation long ago, much like this one...Coruscant, during the invasion. He and Mare had gotten to the ground, and were moving in to take out one of the control towers that relayed orders to the planetary and orbital batteries. They barely succeeded, but he’d failed at what he felt was his real job. She was killed in the escape after they’d made it into their X-Wings. Akan hadn’t thought to check to make sure the rest of the personnel of the station were gone. She’d died that day because of his oversight.

Once long ago, he’d convinced himself that those actions had earned him death. That was the day Raan Maxwell disappeared, and Akan Tavos came into being. But that wasn’t right...he was still who he’d always been, and made the same mistakes. Shadow could see something in him now, something she’d not seen before. His eyes looked more blank, and his focus had obviously faded. Or rather, changed. Something was more determined and dangerous than before.

A smile crept onto his face, and he spoke in a low voice, “You’re easing up. C’mon...” he motioned towards him with his lightsaber, “Finish this.”

It was the way he said it. If Shadow had known him for longer, the older instincts within her would not have been so quick to take over. She wouldn’t have grinned. But instead, she just allowed herself to react. When he finished his words, Shadow was already moving. Akan brought his lightsaber in a dangerous swing towards her, but she literally jumped over him completely. Once landing behind him, she growled and kicked him to the ground. A moment later, she’d pounced on him, claws digging into Akan’s upper back. He let out a cry of pain, but was pinned and couldn’t move. Then, without thinking at all, Shadow wrapped her claws around his neck and dug them in. Akan’s body shook violently for a moment, and then went still. Blood flowed out across the floor. He no longer moved.

Suddenly, Shadow’s mind caught up with her actions. At first she panicked. He was dead. She’d killed before...many many times. Killing wasn’t any problem. But he’d...he wasn’t...why had he asked her to kill him? Why had she listened?! That human was so...stupid. Yet...yet she couldn’t just leave it at this. Her mind hadn’t even thought of what others would say about Akan being dead like this. Instead, she worried more about herself. A past of cold killing was behind her, and it was no time to return to that. It would never be that time. But he was dead...

Something in her sparked. There was something she could do...but it was dangerous for both and would have to be one immediately. It could already be too late. But...she had to try. Shadow’s mind realized the consequences of what this meant if she went through with it. No longer a single life. Two lives. But this was her fault for not controlling herself. She had to fix it. And she would. Shadow then closed her eyes, and concentrated. Hopefully it would work...

 

[freedoms_edge]

Niiiiiiiiiice Cliffhanger! THE best star wars story hour i've read so far, keep up the excellent work!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Thanks! Only problem with cliffhangers is that I update every day...so it doesn't last too long. But great to know people are reading and liking this!

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

Chapter 16: Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Any Stranger...

Ow. Ow said it all for Akan. Ow pretty much described the extent of his existence for the last...the last long time. How long? Wait...the last moment he remembered was Shadow’s claws digging into his neck, then nothing. Then...this. But ow. Why ow? Why anything? That was...death wasn’t it? One shouldn’t feel anything after that. Or...should they? Honestly, how would you know? Sure, there were stories of Force spirits, but Akan doubted they existed in a state of ‘ow’. So again, the question of why ‘ow’ returned to his...mind? Thoughts. Yes, thoughts.

[You’re going to have to move or we’ll be stuck like this...] a voice said. It was in his mind....he’d heard a voice similar to that before, only not in his mind. Thoughts. Whatever. [Its your mind, you are alive you know.] the voice interrupted his thoughts again. So he was alive again, and now completely crazy. Hearing voices. Wonderful. But...Akan could feel other voices. Distant and strange, like thoughts that weren’t his own. He latched onto one for a moment and got an image.

The training room. Blood was still on the floor and wall in places, but the focus was on...a body, face first on the floor.. Off to the side of the body was a pile of clothes. His clothes. Wait...that body...it looked like Shadow’s yet...male looking. And the hair. And...and...the arm moved. Akan could have sworn he did that. Then the image faded and he was left in the nothing of wondering what the Sith was going on.

[I’ll explain after we’re completely separated] the voice said again. That voice. He pinned it. Shadow’s. But why in his mind? Too many why’s. [Our tails are still connected...I can’t do that part on my own.]

Huh...? He felt something in his mind....Shadow. She was searching something out. She found it, and he felt a strange energy growing from where there had been nothing. He could...feel his body again. But it was different. Stronger. Bigger, too. And something...his thoughts trailed down, and he found a series of muscles and bones that had never been there before. That...shouldn’t be there. He moved them.

[Hey! Stop playing with the our tails and move forward!] Akan hadn’t realized he’d been moving that muscle for a few...minutes. It was strangely entertaining. That was awkward. He seemed like he was getting distracted much more easily. Wait. Focus. Task at hand. Tail. Right. But why ‘our tails’? Wait...stuck. He let his min travel farther down, and it all got even more fuzzy. Stuck! Tails were...fused? Connected? Stuck! Why? Not another why...FOCUS! Move. Alright. Forward.

He did. Carefully and with eyes still closed. One arm moved up, and dragged him across the floor while the other did the same. As he did this, he could hear...feel, just generally know that Shadow was doing the same thing in the other direction. Then, it was gone. Well, not completely, but the part of him that somehow understood what was going on figured that the ‘stuck’ problem was solved. He stopped moving. Feeling was ‘returning’ in a way to his entire body, and he was noticing many differences that he’d last checked. Mostly, this was along the lines of muscles that were never there before.

He heard movement and shifted his ear towards it. What? Shifted his ear? How did he...? Hmm...there was another new muscle. And the ears were...different. He could hear better, and was surprised at how much louder the ship was. He twisted the ear the other direction to see if it worked. It did. Another sound behind him, and Akan quickly moved his ear to listen. Shadow. How did he know? He could feel her thoughts, and knew she was moving.

[You’ll get used to the link...can you say anything?] Akan heard Shadow ask him as she stopped moving. Say anything...?

[How’m I s’posed to talk? Everythings all...all...] suddenly Akan realized that was his ‘voice’. He’d just thought about it...at her. In a way. Not in any way that much different from the Force, but...he could tell he wasn’t using that for this communication. He just thought at her.

Akan then felt a hand on his shoulder, then heard Shadow’s actual voice, “It’ll probably be very...um...confusing for a while. Can you open your eyes at all or speak?”

Akan did manage to turn his head so his nose wasn’t crushed on the floor. Or at least, he was pretty sure that was what he’d done. But eyes opening was somehow very hard to do. As was working the mouth at all. [What...happened?]

“Well,” Shadow’s hand left his shoulder, and Akan could feel her thoughts race through how to explain things. She tried sending images, but it did nothing but confuse him more. Realizing this, she sighed and tried explaining it as best she could in words, “You um...I...got a little a carried away. You kind of...well...”

[You killed me?!] Akan’s mind had caught on to that much, and though it had made sense considering, it was still shocking and insane in more than one way.

“No! Yes...well...” her voice became accusing, “You told me to! Argh...look, that’s not the point. Just listen because this is um...important. Before you were completely...gone, I sort of made you a new...well...you.”

Again, this was confirming what he was slowly figuring out on his own(with the help of her thoughts), but hearing it was just more to add on to the current feeling of chaos. [How in the Force did you do that?!]

“Not in the Force...” Shadow trailed off, obviously not catching the expression and taking it literally, “Listen it’s a technique of my...our species.”

[Our species?!] alright, now it was going to far.

He felt a strange emotion from Shadow then. Almost like she was hiding behind a wall and talking quietly around it with large amounts of things in the way to deflect any attacks that were sure to come, “Um...yes? We’re the um...same now. I didn’t...I mean, it was the only way! And...and I didn’t mean for things to get so crazy and I...it was the only way...”

There was a silence. Obviously, she expected him to murder her at this point. Then, he broke the silence. He had spent the time doing a mix of thinking and figuring out how to get his mouth to work. Akan managed it, and his voice even sounded different. This was because he was talking through sharper, slightly longer teeth, “...its okay...”

That got a surprised reaction out of her. Akan could feel Shadow’s mind racing trying to figure out what to do. She’d expected a much harsher reaction. Carefully, she said, “Um...you need to know. We’re essentially the uh...same person now.”

[Its why we can...talk like this] she continued in his mind, which surprised him but at the same time was somehow normal already. [The big thing is that um...well, we’ll live as long as each other, really.] Shadow suddenly noticed that made little sense, and tried again. [What I mean is that...well, when one of us dies the other will too...so we’re kind of stuck in that. But it was the only way...]

Taking this all in, Akan finally managed to get an eye open. He was, in fact, face first on the floor. Shadow was sitting crossed legged on a brown pile of what were most likely his clothes. She was wearing her usual skin-tight suit, but it was smaller than usual. No longer did it cover her entire body(minus feet, hands, and head), but started just above her knees and ended a little below her neck with short ‘sleeves’ on her arms. It also looked...different in a way. Less colour to it.

“My morphsuit was...strained,” she trailed off and he watched her reach over to him. She put her hand on his back, but it felt different, “It split itself, so you have one too. Its sometimes hard to tell you’re wearing it...but it won’t hurt you. Both of them will grow back in time, but they’ll be...small for a while,” she caught onto another thought of his, “Yes, they’re alive. Not intelligent, but alive. Now, its really designed to give you something to wear when you morph....but you should wear it all the time because of the cold.”

Morph? Wait...she meant. But he didn’t know how. Maybe it was simple? No...not right now. Focus. Some things still confused him. [Can you...help me up?]

Shadow nodded and as Akan strained muscles that had never been used before(which was odd in its own right), she helped to pull him to his feet. He nearly fell onto her, but Shadow held him up as he got used to the balance difference.

“Tail for balance...” she said quietly, still sounding slightly worried like she expected him to kill her at any moment.

He managed a nod, but wasn’t sure how to use said tail for said balance. So he just let things happened. In a few minutes, he’d worked it out, and was able to stand up, mostly, straight. There was a large mirror on the far side of the training room, which was a remnant of the old quarters that had never been removed. Shadow caught onto his thoughts, and helped him to walk over to it.

When he got to it, his mind finished computing everything and put the last pieces together. There stood Shadow, looking the same as usual. Not too tall, shoulder length white hair with a black stripe down the center, two feline ears and purple eyes with feline pupils, long tail, and her smaller morphsuit. But next to her, was what Akan knew to be himself but still wasn’t sure of.

He was about the same height as before, but it was obvious he had newer muscles in most places. Of course, the skin tight morphsuit probably helped that some, but it would have been noticeable either way. His hair was about the same length as before, scruffy as usual, but...white like Shadow’s. Except no black stripe. Well, there was a stripe but it was a metallic blue colour. He decided not to ask where that came from. He realized the reason his hair looked so much scruffier was the fact that he no longer had human ears to keep it back more. His ears were now up higher on his head, and feline like Shadow’s. His eyes, too had the same slit...but they were the same blue colour as before. More of an ice blue than the colour of his stripe. His skin was darker, like hers was. In fact, exactly the same colour...almost no surprise. He opened his mouth to confirm that his teeth were in fact much sharper, then looked down. Flicked that muscle that had never been there...a tail flicked, with the same white/blue markings as his hair. Okay...um...

[Now what...?] he asked, not sure if his voice would have managed the confusion that was finally settling.

Shadow looked at him in the mirror, then up at him. She had an arm holding him up still, and it was strange how she was so much...different than before. She managed a shrug, then a grin appeared on her face. Not the dangerous grin from before, but a more friendly one. It almost looked out of place, “Your guess is as good as mine...but um, probably should tell Ansion. And well..welcome back as an Alraxian.”

Alraxian. So now he knew the species name. From Raan the young pilot...to Akan the mercenary Jedi...to...an Alraxian. No knew name. He’d died enough. Reborn was an understatement. A grin started growing on his face. Never had he ever needed to ask for an interesting life. Now, he got to live a second interesting one.

 

[ledded]

Wow. Now *that* was some good stuff. I'm off to find my socks, where the last few updates just rocked them off into the other room.

Very, very nice.